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one of the most sombre tales in the history of Eton. This shall be set forth in its proper place.
Mention of the Eton Chronicle reminds me of an incident which will go like an arrow to the hearts of all Etonians, past and present. It is this, that after the fateful affairs culminating in James's decease, a search, made in the cabin of his brig, brought to light that throughout the years of his piracy he had been a faithful subscriber to the Eton Chronicle. Hundreds of copies of it, much thumb-marked, were found, littering his bunk.
Of James's personal appearance while at Eton such notes as I have gathered are picturesque but contradictory. According to his aunt (of whom I shall have more to say) he was a sweetly pretty boy and pious, with much of the courtliness which afterwards so struck his victims on the high seas, when he always said "sorry" as he prodded them along the plank. "The soul of honor" she said also, and so sensitive, that on his going to Eton she urged his tutor never in any circumstances to cane James, but to do as she had done, cane some adjacent piece of furniture, which had the same effect on the pants of the impressionable boy. This advice was not adopted, and she feels that the harsher treatment fretted his dark spirit.
The few of his contemporaries whom I have had the privilege of consulting were impressed less favorably. They admit an air of cheap distinction, of which he seems to have been pleasantly conscious. But chiefly they recall a lad, not over cleanly, inclined to snivel and to twist the arms of delicate juniors
